


All Hands

by silver_etoile



Category: SKAM (Italy)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fluff, M/M, pediatrician!marti
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:07:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29464749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silver_etoile/pseuds/silver_etoile
Summary: Martino definitely does not have an adolescent crush on the guy who volunteers in the children's ward at the hospital. Except maybe he definitely does, but that doesn't mean he has to do something about it.
Relationships: Niccolò Fares/Martino Rametta
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34





	All Hands

**Author's Note:**

> It is what it is.

He was back. Again. Crossing through the cafeteria like he belonged there, and maybe he did. After all, Niccolò had been coming in every Wednesday and Saturday for the past two months.

No one could blame Martino for the way he paused every time he walked past the door to the children’s play area, just to glance through the window in the hopes that he might catch a glance of Nico’s dark curls, bright smile, the way seemed to be able to connect with every kid he talked to.

It wasn’t as though they hadn’t _talked_ in all the time Nico had been coming to volunteer at the hospital. They’d talked, if you could call it that. A hello in the halls, a smile that made something clench deep in Martino’s chest, all nervous and fluttery in a way he hated.

Martino wouldn’t even really call it volunteering since Nico seemed to have as much, if not more fun, than the kids. Sometimes, he did art with them, bringing along a bag overflowing with supplies, and sometimes he just sat by the beds of sicker kids and read a book. The other day, Martino had even heard Nico playing some music on his ipod and trying to explain rap to a seven year old girl.

But beyond the superficial greetings, Martino just took it upon himself to not pause too long whenever Nico came by.

“You know it would be faster if you just talked to him,” Sana said as Martino’s gaze followed Nico out of the cafeteria.

“Are you giving me dating advice?” Martino asked, skeptical, pushing his sticky pasta around his plate. Nico hadn’t seemed to notice him, not that Martino had wanted him to. Around them, the cafeteria was fairly empty except for a few late lunchers. “You won’t even admit you like that guy who comes to visit his grandma.”

“She’s going to be discharged soon,” Sana replied, which definitely wasn’t an answer.

Rolling his eyes, Martino took a bite of his pathetic lunch. “I don’t need to talk to him,” he said instead. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Uh huh,” Sana only hummed in that obvious way she did, as if she knew Martino was lying.

He wasn’t lying. Martino had liked enough straight guys to know better than to just put himself out there. Not that he knew if Nico was straight. He suspected, from the way Nico smiled at him, he might not be, but he’d been wrong plenty of times before.

“I’m not going to ask him out,” Martino muttered down at his plate, the questionable desert on the tray.

“And why not?”

Martino sighed. “One, I don’t know if he’s into guys. Two, there’s no way a guy that good-looking would be interested in me. I’m just a pediatrician, not even a surgeon like you.”

She seemed to laugh, just barely. “And what’s three?” she asked without bothering to argue his points.

“What?”

“You can’t say one and two without a third reason,” she said simply, and Martino should have known better than to come to Sana for something like this. Not that he’d exactly come to her in the first place. She just happened to be annoyingly perceptive—and honestly, Martino probably hadn’t hidden it very well.

“Okay, fine,” he snapped, annoyed. “Three, if I ask him out and he says no, he might stop coming to volunteer and the kids really like him.”

“The kids,” Sana repeated thoughtfully.

“Yes, the kids,” Martino said firmly, though he knew exactly what she was thinking. “The kids who are sick and need someone who’s not their parents to cheer them up and distract them from everything going on.”

“A dog could do that,” Sana pointed out as Martino scoffed, setting down his fork on his half-eaten meal.

“A dog won’t make up songs with them or tell them their drawings look like majestic dragons or wear tiaras and pretend to have tea parties with them.”

Sana merely nodded, leaning back in her chair. Martino didn’t even know why he was talking to her about this. No one had said anything about asking Nico out. If Martino had wanted to do it, he’d had two whole months.

Instead, he’d spent those two months watching the way Nico seemed to light the whole room up, to make kids smile, even the ones who hadn’t smiled in months. He’d spent his time watching through the window, separated by a pane of glass, separated from the answer to a question he wasn’t going to ask.

After his last disastrous relationship, Martino wasn’t exactly looking to try again.

Even if Nico was adorable and sweet and made him feel weak in the knees when they did get too close to each other.

“I have to do my rounds,” he said after a minute when Sana just sat there, arms folded across her chest in a knowing sort of way.

Sana said nothing as he rose from the rickety chair and grabbed his tray from the table. He did have rounds to do, but he also didn’t want to sit here and explain himself anymore.

The halls of the hospital were painted a soft, sad sort of green until he reached the pediatric wing where the halls were painted bright, happy colors, as if to disguise why the kids were really there.

Martino didn’t mind, letting his fingers drift over the different-colored handprints painted on the wall. If kids had to be there, at least they didn’t have to look at boring hallways.

As he passed by the play room, Martino couldn’t help the way his feet slowed, how his neck craned _just a little_ to look in the window.

Some of his patients were there, but there was no sign of Nico and his smile. 

He didn’t care, Martino told himself firmly. It didn’t matter where Nico was and that this might be his only chance to see him before he got too busy with patients.

Crushing the tiny ripple of disappointment that surfaced deep inside, Martino shook his head and turned from the door, rounding a corner instead and running smack dab into Nico, much to his surprise and momentary panic as he caught himself from barreling right into him.

“Dr. Rametta,” Nico said, smile already widening, revealing all of his teeth, eyes crinkling at the edges, and Martino felt his heart thud, once, in his chest. “Just the person I was looking for.”

Martino blinked before reminding himself that he wasn’t a nervous teenager anymore. He didn’t need to feel this way in the presence of someone as beautiful as Niccolò. He was a fully capable adult. He was a doctor, for fuck’s sake.

“Me?” he managed to ask finally, and Nico nodded.

“You know Emelia in room 215?”

Of course Martino did. He knew all the patients in the ward, but he wasn’t sure why Nico was talking about this specific one.

“Of course,” he said anyway.

Nico smiled slightly, and Martino couldn’t help noticing that Niccolò was actually a tiny bit shorter than him, and his over-sized, comfy-looking sweatshirts didn’t seem to help. He’d never stood this close to him for this long, and if it went on much longer, Martino wasn’t sure what else he might notice.

“Today’s her brother’s birthday, and I think she’s a bit sad since she can’t go to the party. So I was thinking maybe we could do something special.”

Martino paused, confused why Nico was bringing this up to him. He wasn’t in charge of the volunteers. “Like what?”

“I know you’re really busy, but we could get the kids together, have some cake. Have a little mini party.”

Martino shook his head, sticking his hands in his coat pockets. “Why are you asking me?”

Nico tilted his head to the side, pressing his lips together into a playful smile. “Because you’re her favorite doctor and I know she’d want you there. If you have time, of course.”

“Oh, well,” Martino said slowly. He did have plenty of work to do, but not so much that he couldn’t take some time to help Nico with whatever he was planning.

“If you have other things to do, I completely understand,” Nico said as Martino hesitated.

“No,” Martino said, a little too quickly judging by the way Nico’s smile grew again. “I could make time.”

Nico laughed, and Martino’s whole chest pitched into his throat at the sound. “I’ll see you there.” He started to turn, leaving Martino rooted to his spot in the hall, seconds away from going over everything that happened in his head, before he paused. “You don’t happen to know where I could find a keyboard?”

Martino only frowned, opening his mouth slowly.

“Never mind,” Nico interrupted before he could speak. “I’ll figure it out.”

Then Nico was gone, disappeared around the corner behind Martino, and Martino blinked stupidly. God, he was… he was fucked. That was what he was.

He wanted to ask Nico out, or maybe have Nico ask him—he’d never been particularly good at the asking part. He couldn’t stand that close to Nico without his heart thudding in his chest, nervous, expectant, as though every minute he was around Nico made him feel like a giddy teen again. But that didn’t mean he could ask Nico out, or that he should.

Shaking himself firmly, Martino took a breath. He _wasn’t_ a dumbass teenager any more. He could spend a few minutes with Niccolò without dissolving into a total mess.

It was fine, he told himself as he finally continued on his way. It was going to be fine.

*

Martino couldn’t concentrate on the chart in front of him, on the paperwork he was trying to get done. He kept waiting, waiting for Nico to pop up with his blindingly beautiful smile, his pure enthusiasm for hanging out with the kids, to drag Martino off to some last-minute non-birthday celebration for a little girl with a respiratory infection’s brother. 

Any minute now, Nico would show up and tell Martino it was time, and it was all Martino could think about.

He shouldn’t have been so nervous, but he was.

Tapping his finger impatiently on the keyboard, Martino let out a breath. He just needed to stop thinking about it.

“Dr. Rametta.”

Martino’s head snapped up, but it wasn’t Niccolò. It was Silvia, one of the nurses, poking her head around the corner.

“One of the volunteers asked me to find you. They’re doing something in the play room.”

Martino was already halfway out of his chair before Silvia finished speaking.

“He was handsome,” she said, innocuous. “In a sculpture-like way. I wonder if he’s single.”

Tuning her out, Martino left Silvia musing to herself. He had no idea if Nico was single, but at the moment, he was waiting for Martino in the play room. Probably surrounded by a bunch of kids, but still.

He might have walked a little too fast down the halls, smoothing down his white coat, taking half a second to check his reflection in a passing window. The playroom was quiet in the way it usually was as he reached it, but through the window, he could see Nico with a half-dozen of his patients, balloons filling the room, a cake set out on one of the tables.

Nico turned to Martino as he opened the door, the same bright smile blossoming on his face as he ushered him in with a nod.

“Emelia, look who came by to celebrate with us! Dr. Rametta, would you care to do the honors of cutting the cake?”

“Of course,” Martino agreed, trying to focus on the girl with curly brown hair sitting in the chair and not on how Nico was crouched at her side, a calming hand on her arm. “I guess everyone wants a small piece?”

“No!” came the rallying cry from the kids crowding around him and the cake. He heard Nico’s laughter over everything.

Once the cake was cut and dispersed, Martino couldn’t help glancing at Nico next to Emelia, whispering things that made her laugh in her ear, joking with the other kids around. They all seemed to love him, always clambering to ask questions, to be the one talking to him.

It was adorable, Martino caught himself thinking. He hadn’t ever really understood when people said it was cute that he was a pediatrician. He’d always taken it to mean that maybe they thought it wasn’t as hard as being a “real” doctor like Sana, who performed major surgeries on a daily basis. That it was different somehow.

But it was _cute_ how Nico looked surrounded by a bunch of chatty children, all trying to get his attention. If his heart could have melted, it would have right then.

“Alright, how about I play a song for your brother?” Nico asked as he finally stood up. “We’ll have to play it loud so he can hear it. Is that okay, Dr. Rametta?”

Caught off-guard by Nico’s gaze on him, Martino could only nod.

“Louder the better,” he said to Emelia’s giggles.

“Perfect.” Nico grinned, pulling out a keyboard from behind him. Martino had no idea where he’d gotten it until he noticed the little strip of tape on the edge, the name Niccolo Fares scrawled on it in messy penmanship. “You ready?” he asked the kids, who shouted in agreement, and he began to play a simple melody. “ _Tanti auguri a te, tanti auguri a te…_ ”

The kids shouted the words at the top of their lungs and Martino couldn’t help smiling. Of course Nico could sing and play the piano and make a bunch of kids love him.

Martino’s last boyfriend had never wanted to set foot in the hospital. Too afraid of getting sick, of dealing with “sticky children” as he called them. The only time he’d ever come close had been to pick Martino up one night after a double shift, and he’d spent the whole ride home complaining about the late hour.

To say that hadn’t ended a moment too soon was being generous.

“I thought you were all about rap,” Martino said once the song ended and Nico let the kids play on the keyboard instead.

To dissonant chords, Nico smiled, shrugging as he joined Martino in watching. “I like a bit of everything. Why limit yourself?”

“So I’m guessing you know _Topolino Topoletto_?”

Nico laughed. “I know a lot more than that. I’m a concert pianist by trade.”

“Wow.” It was such an insignificant word for what Martino felt. “That’s impressive.”

Nico seemed to pause, watching Martino, smile curving gently. “You’re a doctor, for kids. That’s impressive.”

Martino shrugged. “It’s nothing, really.” There were far more impressive doctors at this hospital. “So how come you volunteer so often?”

Nico was still watching him as he replied. “I like hanging out with kids. They tell you the brutal truth and if they don’t like you, you’ll know it. It’s very upfront. I like that.”

“I don’t think anyone could not like you,” Martino muttered before he could stop himself, catching how Nico glanced at him. “I mean, the kids like you.”

“I like them,” Nico said slowly.

This was the talking Sana had mentioned, and honestly, it wasn’t helping. Everything Nico said just made Martino like him _more_. What was he supposed to do about this childish crush on a cute boy who made his heart flutter with only a smile?

 _Ask him out_ , came the answer, in a voice that sounded suspiciously like Sana’s.

Or he could get the hell out of there before he learned that in his off time, Nico walked shelter dogs and held babies in the NICU ward. He wasn’t sure his heart would be able to take someone so amazing. He definitely wouldn’t deserve someone that amazing.

With Nico smiling at him, Martino felt himself shaking his head. 

“I have to get back to work,” he said, abruptly, and Nico nodded.

“Of course. Wouldn’t want to keep you.” He paused, smiling gently at Martino. “It really means a lot to Emelia that you came.”

Martino just nodded awkwardly before turning for the door.

Anyone else would have just asked Nico out—for coffee or drinks or even to spend half an hour sitting on a bench out in the hospital garden. But not Martino. No. Martino just hightailed it out of there.

He was ridiculous. Completely. Was he so afraid of liking someone that he wouldn’t even give it a chance? Martino didn’t have an answer for that as he headed for the nurse’s station.

Checking the chart, Martino wasn’t really seeing any of the words, blurring together on the page. What was he supposed to have done? Stayed there and learned more about how great Nico really was? Fallen a little more into this crush than before? It was never going to happen. Martino was never going to ask him out. He’d been with plenty of guys who seemed perfect on the surface, but it never ended up that way.

Martino wasn’t naive—no one was perfect. He had plenty of his own problems to deal with. He didn’t need to add any more unrealistic expectations to the list.

A gentle knock on the counter brought his attention from the chart, surprised and a little stunned to find Nico in front of him.

“I didn’t say something wrong, did I?”

Martino blinked. “What?”

“You just kind of ran out of there,” Nico said slowly, no trace of a smile this time, eyebrows creased with what might have been worry.

“No,” Martino said, shaking his head, holding up the chart as though it was proof. “I do have work to do.”

“Right,” Nico agreed, but he didn’t sound completely convinced, leaning on the counter instead. “What about after work?”

Martino wasn’t usually this slow on the uptake as he frowned at Nico. After work?

“There’s a nice bar around the corner. It’s no cafeteria espresso, but I bet the pastries are infinitely better.”

“You’re asking me out?” Martino said, the words dragging slowly from his mouth as though he couldn’t believe it.

Nico paused. “Yeah? I mean, unless you’re not—oh fuck.”

“No,” Martino said, quick, as Nico slid away from the counter, a look of realization coming over his face. “I-I am. It’s just…” He hesitated even as Nico looked back, caught somewhere between confused and hopeful. “You seem amazing. Too amazing.”

Nico frowned. “Sorry?”

Sighing, Martino wished he didn’t have to do this. “I’m not going to explain this well,” he muttered, rising from the chair. “I’ve met a lot of guys who seemed perfect, and you—you love kids, you’re creative and artistic, you volunteer on your own free will, you-you’re gorgeous, and you’re interested in me. I’m most definitely _not_ perfect, which most guys I date seem to figure out pretty fast.”

For a second, Nico didn’t reply, and Martino couldn’t hold back his sigh. It was better that Nico knew upfront that dating him would be pointless.

“You know why I like kids? Really?” Nico said after a second, and Martino glanced up. Why was Nico still there? “It’s because they don’t judge you. If you do something weird, they go with it. They don’t need a whole explanation.” He paused. “I usually let people figure it out on their own, but I am also very much not perfect. I volunteer because when I’m with those kids, I don’t have to think about all my own issues. And I _am_ very interested in getting to know you, if you’ll let me.”

“That’s not how this is supposed to go,” Martino said after a second, and Nico tilted his head to the side.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re not supposed to argue with me.”

It took a second before Nico smiled. “Well, if you’re going to do something stupid, I’m going to argue it.”

“What am I doing that’s stupid?”

“For one, you’re already planning the end before we’ve started, and two, you’re not giving me a chance to prove whatever’s going on in your mind is wrong.”

Martino paused, chewing on his lip for a second. Maybe Nico had a point. Not everything had to end in tragedy, or in Martino’s case, showing up at Filo’s apartment at midnight after yet another stupid breakup.

“What’s three?” he asked finally, and Nico’s nose wrinkled in a question. “You can’t say one and two without a third.”

Nico smiled slightly, meeting Martino’s gaze. “Three, you’re still standing behind that desk. I think you should come over here instead so I can ask you out properly.”

Martino’s heart was hammering even as he stepped out from behind the desk, setting down the chart, his palm sweating slightly even though he knew what was coming this time.

“Dr. Rametta,” Nico started, but Martino interrupted.

“Martino. My name is Martino.”

Nico’s smile widened as he took a step closer. “Marti,” he said gently. “Do you want to go get coffee after your shift? With me?”

Taking a breath, Martino felt himself smile, as if all the doubts had flown from his mind, all the second-guessing gone with Nico looking so sincere in front of him.

“Sure,” he said finally, heart swelling as Nico grinned and nodded.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said easily, and he even managed to surprise Martino as he leaned in and kissed him, once, gentle, fingers lingering on his neck as he slid away. “Just thought we could start on a good note.”

“Aren’t all notes good?” Martino breathed, still taking it in as Nico laughed and stepped back.

“I will see you later,” Nico only said, a promise, and Martino took a breath as Nico moved backwards to the corner.

“I get off at seven,” he managed to say, catching the way Nico smiled.

“I’ll be here.”

Martino’s smile grew as Nico stepped around the corner and disappeared. Grabbing the chart, he couldn’t help laughing to himself. He was definitely not telling Sana about this. At least until tomorrow.

*

FIN.


End file.
